1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile phone terminal with a camera function and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital cameras, which are now mainstream camera apparatuses, are becoming smaller, lighter, and thinner than film cameras in the related art, and the number of images which can be captured is very large compared with film cameras in the related art. Therefore, it is becoming popular for users to carry a digital camera at all times or wear it about their person, and capture images of various subjects without considering the number of captured images.
However, as a negative aspect generated from the digitalization of camera apparatus, there is a problem that a starting time from power on to when an image can be actually captured is significantly long compared with film cameras in the related art. Specifically, although, for example, a use of a film-with-lens camera (so-called disposable camera), which was popular before digital cameras became mainstream, can get an instantaneous shutter chance by just pressing a shutter button without a power-on operation or the like, a user of a digital camera has to perform at least three steps of: operating a power-on switch; waiting for the camera to start and checking that the camera has started; and operating a shutter button when capturing an image. Therefore, for example, when trying to capture an instantaneous image by using a digital camera apparatus, a case often occurs in which the camera apparatus does not start in time and the shutter chance is missed.
Therefore, techniques described in FIG. 1 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-282265 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) and FIG. 1 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-252800 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) are proposed as techniques in which a digital camera is started quickly, an image is captured by a release operation (shutter button pressing operation), and the time to complete the image capturing is shortened.
In Patent Document 1, a method is proposed in which a system start program of a digital camera is divided into a minimum necessary portion for capturing an image and a remaining portion, the minimum necessary portion is read and executed just after the camera is started, and thereafter the remaining portion is read and executed, so that the time from when the camera is started to when the camera becomes able to capture an image is shortened. Specifically, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, if the digital camera is set to a quick start mode, when the system is started, first, a part of the start program, which is a program necessary for activating an image capturing system, is read from a ROM and developed in a buffer memory. Next, activating processing of the image capturing system is performed, and when this processing is completed, an image can be captured. In this image capturing, as for image capturing conditions such as an exposure value, a shutter speed, a focal length, and the like, fixed values are used such as values set when the apparatus is designed, values set by a user in advance, or values used when the last image capturing was performed, and the like. In the quick start mode, if the shutter button is pressed when or after the image capturing system is activated, the first image capturing is performed instantaneously, and the captured image data is stored in the buffer memory as raw data, which is uncompressed full-size image data. When the shutter button is pressed again after the first image capturing is completed, the second image capturing is performed continuously, and the captured image data is stored in the buffer memory as raw data.
In Patent Document 2, a method is proposed in which, in a digital camera including an optical zoom function, the quick start is performed in the same way as the above method when the shutter button is pressed, and thereafter, images are continuously captured in a fixed focus state while scanning the optical zoom, so that the digital camera is instantaneously started and a plurality of images are captured. Specifically, in the technique described in Patent Document 2, if the shutter button is pressed when power is turned off, a program related to basic operation is read from the ROM, the program is developed in a program storage memory in the buffer memory, the camera enters a quick-start rapid-shot mode, and a zoom lens is zoom-driven (to the wide side) and focus-driven (to the pan-focus side). Next, the image capturing system such as CCD is activated, and continuous image capturing is performed until the image memory becomes full while the shutter button is pressed. After the continuous image capturing, the other program related to additional functions is read, information regarding a memory card is obtained, and activation of an LCD monitor or the like is performed, so that a fully functional camera start is achieved. Since, in this technique, when the shutter button is first pressed and an image is captured, the autofocus is not operated, the time corresponding to the autofocus operation can be saved and a quick start is possible.